YES! New Springer Article Describes Using Gabapentinoids for Benzo Withdrawal!

[[ps...]]

I wanted to share a recently published Springer Nature article https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11033-022-08110-9 I found online about using gabapentinoids (gabapentin and pregabalin) for benzodiazepine (BZD) withdrawal. This is amazing and may be a great way to get through the storm these drugs cause in our brains. In case you cannot understand, I have summed up what it says in an easy language.

 

Before I discuss how the article makes sense and may help you, I want to mention that I am strongly interested in psychopharmacology but am not a physician, so I cannot give you medical advice. However, I can provide anecdotal experience and a scientific interpretation of this article.

 

First, consider a motor vehicle- you have brakes and gas. View glutamate (excitatory neurotransmitter), the gas, and GABA (inhibitory neurotransmitter), the brakes in your brain. When you take benzos for lengthy periods, your GABA-A receptors (which hold a BZD binding site) become uncoupled and dysfunctional, requiring dosage increases over time. After a few weeks-months (depending on the benzo), abrupt BZD cessation will cause your glutamate/GABA balance to go out of whack since glutamate receptors are upregulated (AMPA and NMDA) during the withdrawal period, and GABA-A receptors are dysfunctional, uncoupled, and/or reduced in number, depending on the brain region. This means you have a brain that has increased “gas” and decreased “brakes," headed right to hell with Satan himself!

 

The good news is that even though gabapentin can be considered "addictive," its addictiveness is nowhere near that of BZDs. However, pregabalin may tread into dangerous territory if you have addictive tendencies.

 

This article (above link) mentions that gabapentin and pregabalin significantly reduce glutamate release onto AMPA receptors (which bind glutamate), lowering the excitatory storm in your brain during benzo withdrawal. If you think about it, less glutamate release and activation of AMPA receptors mean less acceleration in your car and a shift towards a reduced speed (a calmer brain). In addition, both gabapentin and pregabalin are anticonvulsants- and can reduce your risk of seizures during the tapering process and may even help with insomnia. They are safe adjuncts for a taper, based on my anecdotal experience, and after ending the taper, you can stay on them until you feel symptomatic relief. I didn’t ever have to taper gabapentin- I could take it one day, one week, or even one month and stop it after my last dose of Klonopin.

 

We MUST also be careful with dosage equivalencies for tapers. POTENCY is what matters- 0.5mg of Klonopin equals 10mg of Valium (i.e., valium is less potent, klonopin more potent). Thus, having suffered benzo withdrawal numerous times (mainly Klonopin), I HIGHLY recommend a valium conversion if you can find a doctor who will do that since valium comes in 2mg, 5mg, and 10mg strengths. If yours won't, it's time to research to find one who will.

 

I have withdrawn more than three times from BZDs at home, in detox centers, and treatment centers and spent hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars figuring out how to get off these pills. Unfortunately, the only medication that alleviated my symptoms during the tapering phase was gabapentin. This stopped 80% of the symptoms, and I could tolerate the rest with a beta blocker, a caffeine-free diet, and prayer/support during a diazepam taper. I still take gabapentin to this day and am fine.

 

Post-taper, I also recommend Baicalin; it binds to the BZD receptor on the GABA-A complex with a similar Ki-binding affinity as diazepam (Valium) and may offer you relief for day-day anxiety as a natural alternative. Other remedies that may help are BPC-157 (favors homeostasis of BZD-binding site) and dietary changes.

 

There is hope out there for you! So stay strong, pray, and know that this will pass!

[[Ma...]]

WIW!!! I’ve been posting all day about trying Lyrica! Thank you 🙏

[[Th...]]

This sounds great and thank you for sharing, but I do want to highlight that there are several anecdotal examples on this forum where people were told by their neurologists to take gabapentin and it resulted in a worse withdrawal than it would have without the gabapentin being introduced. 

 

I mention this as my wife's neurologist also recommended gabapentin to my wife to help her with tapering.  He also told her to take an antidepressant to help with her taper and he gave her several rapid taper suggestions including a skipped dose taper and a rapid reduction by cutting the pill in half, then quarter, then ceasing the pill within a month.  After getting all of this bad information from him, I came to this forum to research how others handled Gabapentin and saw some disturbing withdrawal issues with gabapentin. Thanks to those posts, we opted out of taking the gabapentin.

[[Na...]]

Yeah, before you take gabapentin I would recommend searching the forums and reading people's experiences. Some people seem to get some benefit but others seem to have a bad (sometimes very bad) experience with it.

 

I don't know what the percentage breakdown would be between those two outcomes but it wouldn't surprise me if they were close to 50-50. So it's a bit of a crapshoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[je...]]

I agree with Nathan Arizona and TheSunAlsoRises. I appreciate you sharing your experience but benzo withdrawal and recovery is such a unique experience and what works for one is not a guarantee for another. Case in point: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=190559.0

 

We MUST also be careful with dosage equivalencies for tapers. POTENCY is what matters- 0.5mg of Klonopin equals 10mg of Valium (i.e., valium is less potent, klonopin more potent). Thus, having suffered benzo withdrawal numerous times (mainly Klonopin), I HIGHLY recommend a valium conversion if you can find a doctor who will do that since valium comes in 2mg, 5mg, and 10mg strengths. If yours won't, it's time to research to find one who will.

 

 

I also disgree with this statement. Just because you're on a more potent benzo does not mean it's better to cross over to Valium. Valium does not guarantee an easier taper. We have seen so many members here struggle significantly with crossovers. Even Prof. Ashton herself has said "Some people, however, appear to have particular difficulty in switching from Klonopin to diazepam. In such cases it is possible to have special capsules made up containing small doses". (Ashton Manual Ch2). 

 

Ultimately it's about doing your own extensive research, and if you're going to try out something new it's probably best to do so in very small increments as our nervous systems are very sensitive.

[[Li...]]

I agree with TheSunAlsoRises, Nathan Arizona, and jelly baby.  There are no magic bullets or one-size-fits-all ‘fixes’ for benzodiazepine cessation and recovery. What works for one individual may wreak havoc for another.  If you have not already done so, I suggest you read the Cochran review as well as the document from the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition linked below. If you wish to share and discuss your experiences with baicalin and BPC-157, I encourage you to post to our Alternative Therapies & Supplements board.

 

I’m glad gabapentin helped you but I am concerned about your repeated withdrawals from benzodiazepines.  I do not wish to alarm you, but are you familiar with the concept of kindling (see link below)?

 

Links:

Medications for discontinuation of long-term benzodiazepine use

https://www.cochrane.org/CD011481/ADDICTN_medications-discontinuation-long-term-benzodiazepine-use

 

Medications and Supplements of Concern on Benzodiazepines, During Cessation and After Withdrawal

https://www.benzoinfo.com/medications-and-supplements/

 

Alternative Therapies & Supplements Board

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=110.0

 

Kindling

https://www.benzoinfo.com/kindling/

[[dj...]]

Yeah, before you take gabapentin I would recommend searching the forums and reading people's experiences. Some people seem to get some benefit but others seem to have a bad (sometimes very bad) experience with it.

 

I don't know what the percentage breakdown would be between those two outcomes but it wouldn't surprise me if they were close to 50-50. So it's a bit of a crapshoot.

 

I think it is risky to take, and in most cases only eases withdrawal a little bit.  However, I do wonder what % of people who have bad experiences with it tried to stop it or taper when they weren’t even close to recovering from benzos.  I’ve seen a lot of posters say it was hell stopping mirtazapine.  It’s just generally not a good idea trying to get off other drugs when you still aren’t through with the benzo.